Kashrut of Kellog's cereal

Question

The cRc recommends Kellogg's cereals with only a k on the box. In my experience, I have not heard of anybody who disagrees with this. This is an unusual situation, though, since normally a plain k does not indicate reliable kashrut supervision. According to a Kellogg's official representative, cereals with the K hechsher are under the supervision of the Rabbinical Council of New England.

My question is as follows: since the box does not include a copyright-protected kosher symbol, if the Rabbinical Council of New England were to withdraw their certification, Kellogg's would legally be able to continue to print the K on the boxes. How would the kosher consumer know that the product is no longer certified reliably?

Answer 1

Everyone I know of eats them and without question or concern. But to answer your question:

I imagine there would be quite the upset if that were to happen and news would travel fairly quickly to kosher consumers, but it is really highly unlikely. What this should remind us is that we all, hekhsherim or not, need to be conscientious consumer who are aware of what we are purchasing and eating. A kosher symbol should not necessarily obviate our responsibility to know what we are eating and if it is really kosher. Think about it, there are "kosher alerts" sent out almost daily, if not weekly, about products which are no longer "kosher." What happens to all of us who don't get those emails? There is often still a symbol on the package.

Hope this helps. Happy cereal eating. Kol tuv.